Esther 4:9

MORDECAI'S REQUEST OF ESTHER LOADED WITH DANGER

"And Hathach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. Then Esther spake unto Hathach, and gave him a message unto Mordecai, saying All the king's servants, and the people of the kinifs provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king in the inner court, who is not called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he might live: but I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days. and they told to Moredecai Esther's words."

"The golden sceptre" (Esther 4:11). "In all of the numerous representations of Persian kings (by sculptors and inscriptions recovered by archaeologists), the king holds a long tapering staff (the sceptre of Esther)."[7] Death was the penalty for any person who came unbidden into the private area of a Persian king.

Esther did not by this reply refuse to accept Mordecai's charge; she merely apprised him of the extreme danger to herself in such a request. Esther was also apprehensive that the king had not invited her into his presence in a month, indicating that his love for her had cooled, and that at that time the king might have been sensually involved with someone else. There was certainly no guarantee that the king would be pleased by her coming uninvited into his presence.